It was supposed to be a Hot Girl Summer for me and my two girls… the reality is, it was more of a Hot Mess Summer😆. An exaggeration, but most of my personal goals were neglected. I underestimated how time consuming running after two toddlers, (1 still nursing) would be full-time!! Yes, I stay home with them alot, but I am not a FULL TIME STAY AT HOME MOM. I work 2 part-time jobs, one in which I am ...
Brooklyn Cocoa Mommy – The Blog
My Journey to Extended Breastfeeding. Part 1 “Supplementing”
Extended breastfeeding, by definition is nursing a child past 12 months old. Somehow I became an Extended Breastfeeder, but if you’d ask me what my breastfeeding plans were up to the day I gave birth to CharlieB, my response was “I am giving it a shot, if it works it does, if it doesn’t I’m fine with that too”. I’ve been breastfeeding for over 2 ½ years, and honestly, it wasn’t until a few months ...
To Blog or Not to Blog, is the Question🤔
“Start the blog, you’ll be great at it”... so I did and underestimated the time, energy, creativity, and skills needed for it, so I almost quit. It’s been quite a while since my last blog post, and honestly, after wanting to quit, I wanted the next blog post to feel right. Not forced, and not because of the need to ‘keep my engagement up.” The struggle began with Instagram’s algorithm issues, I ...
The Duchess, Kate Middleton stole my life – Hyper … WHAT? (It’s more than Morning Sickness)
Hyperemesis Gravidarum, also known as HG, a term I briefly mentioned in a few of my post, is more than morning sickness, in fact IT IS NOT morning sickness at all. Now what does this have to do with the Duchess? No, I have not lost my mind. No, the Duchess did not exactly steal my life, but we have some life similarities, other than the fact we are both royalty 👸🏾(DO NOT ARGUE WITH ME😆, I’m over ...
I was a Mom before I became a Mother
I started receiving Mother’s Day gifts long before I even got pregnant with CharlieB. When I first started getting these gifts, as much as I appreciated it, it made me a little sad and I actually would cry. I was sad because I felt I wasn’t a mother (which I was longing to be), and I couldn’t be any more WRONG. I may not have been a biological mother, or birthed a child, but I was a mom. Mother, ...
Having a Bad Mom Doesn’t Mean you will be a Bad Mom – How Foster Care Saved me.
There is this age old saying “you are a product of your environment”... I used to think it meant that whatever environment you come from you will mimic it. Now I realize that it can mean a variety of things, you can either mirror that environment or reject that environment. Prior to motherhood I would always claim that ‘this statement makes no sense’, ‘this is not all cases’,..etc. but now I ...
Natural Birth? Is that Even a Thing? The “Beloved” Cesarean
In the day and age where the Internet Bully prevails and seems to have power through their tiny devices, Internet Shaming has become the norm. I see memes about Breastfeeding Vs Formula feeding, Screen time vs No Screen time, Co-Sleeping Vs Cry It Out and the most ridiculous of them all Natural (vaginal) Birth Vs Cesarean Birth (aka C-Section). There was even a photographer who told a client they ...
An Apple Day Keeps the Dr Away… No Spanking the Dr’s Say
A few months ago, the AAP (American Academy of Pediatrics) posted a statement that reiterated the harmful and ineffective nature of spanking, noting that new evidence suggests that spanking may cause harm by affecting normal brain development. The policy statement, “Effective Discipline to Raise Healthy Children,” also addresses the harm associated with verbal punishment, such as shaming or ...
I’ll Travel To the Stars and Moon for You
Ha! This sounds like a lyric to a romantic song, and I’m pretty sure I’m not alone when I say “I will travel to the Stars and Moon” for my two girls. To start the first few days of the year, it felt like I literally did travel to outerspace with both of my girls. We were going out of town without Daddy for the first time ever for 6 WHOLE days, to visit my extended family in Roanoke, VA and in ...
Reality Check
Balancing Goals, Family Life, Work Life, and Most Importantly, My Happiness As mentioned before, I got on the Express Train to family life in 2016. My husband and I started out as friends… 16 years later we were married. Our 3rdwedding anniversary is fast approaching, and we have a 2-year-old and an 8-month-old. During our transition from single life to family life, we have both made career ...